Antônio Carlos Zago

Antônio Carlos

Antônio Carlos in 2010
Personal information
Full name Antônio Carlos Zago
Date of birth (1969-03-14) 14 March 1969
Place of birth Presidente Prudente, Brazil
Height 1.84 m (6 ft 1⁄2 in)
Playing position Centre back
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1990–1992 São Paulo 64 (4)
1992–1993 Albacete 12 (1)
1993–1995 Palmeiras 58 (5)
1996–1997 Kashiwa Reysol 24 (0)
1997 Corinthians 12 (2)
1998–2002 Roma 107 (2)
2002–2004 Beşiktaş 56 (2)
2004–2005 Santos 7 (0)
2005–2006 Juventude 52 (2)
2007 Santos 1 (0)
National team
1991–2001 Brazil 37 (3)
Teams managed
2009–2010 São Caetano
2010 Palmeiras
2010 Grêmio Prudente
2011 Mogi Mirim
2011 Vila Nova
2012 Audax São Paulo
2013 AS Roma (assistant coach)
2013–2015 Shakhtar Donetsk (assistant coach)
2015–2016 Juventude
2017 Internacional
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.

Antônio Carlos Zago, widely known as "Antônio Carlos" or "A.C. Zago", (born 14 March 1969 in Presidente Prudente) is a Brazilian former footballer and current coach, who played as a defender.

Club career

Born in Presidente Prudente, a city of the state of São Paulo, also having Italian origins, Zago began playing professional football with São Paulo FC, where he remained for three years, and then signed to Albacete Balompié, Spain, where he stayed for only one season. He returned to his homeland, this time to Palmeiras, another team of São Paulo and a rival to his previous Brazilian team. After three years with the club, he emigrated once again, this time to Japanese club Kashiwa Reysol, where once again remained for only one year before returning to play in São Paulo, but this time at Corinthians, being one of the few players who have played in all the three biggest teams of the city and archrivals as well.[1]

In January 1998, Zago moved to the Italian capital to join Roma, at the request of the club's manager Zdenek Zeman, who was looking to reinforce the team's defensive line. In his Serie A debut with the club, on 11 February 1998 at Lecce, he was sent off after only a few minutes of play; his performances with the giallorossi soon improved, however, and he was able to demonstrate his quality and skill, leading to him being recalled to the Brazilian national side in 1999. Zago played for five seasons with Roma, and was also part of the 2001 Scudetto-winning team; Zago partnered with compatriot Aldair and Argentine Walter Samuel to form a sold back-line, which aided Roma in claiming the Serie A title. Due to his success and performances with Roma, Zago still remains a popular figure with the romanista fans, who nicknamed him Terminator during his time at the club.[2]

In November 1999 Zago was the protagonist of a shocking episode, when he hit Lazio player Diego Simeone in the face during a derby match. The outcome was a positive attitude towards him by the fans, who paid tribute to his action in the song "Brusco", the phrases "Zago: spits fire as a dragon" and "people can only keep their mouth shut, otherwise AC Zago will spit at them". Zago is also one of the few Brazilian players who is known with his name and surname. During the years he spent to Rome he had chosen his name on the shirt to be written in different ways, the first "ANTÔNIO CARLOS", then "AC ZAGO" then simply "ZAGO."[3]

In 2002, Zago left Roma, and after a year of inactivity, went to Turkey and signed with the Beşiktaş, before returning to Brazil in August 2004 to Santos. In 2005 and 2006, he played with Juventude. He ended his career with Santos in 2007.[4]

International career

Zago debuted with the Brazil national team on 30 October 1991, in a 3–1 win against Yugoslavia, and remained within the national squad until 1993. After a period of mixed success at club level, however, he has no longer called up to the national side; only after moving to Roma, did he manage return to the national team with his stand-out performances for the club. Between 1998 and 2001, he collected 26 caps for Brazil and scored two goals; he was also part of the squad that won the 1999 Copa América. In total, he made 37 appearances for Brazil between 1991 and 2001, scoring three goals.

Managerial career

In June 2009, after an unsuccessful experience as technical director at Corinthians,[5] Zago signed a deal as a manager with São Caetano.

As a coach, he had a promising start in the 2010 Paulista Championship and enjoyed a historic win against his former team Palmeiras at Parque Antarctica.[6] The feat brought him close to the traditional Palmeiras leaders and on 18 February 2010, he signed with Parque Antarctica club.[7]

However, issues with the squad and criticism against Palmeiras' poor performances motivated his resignation three months later.[8]

In January 2013 he returned to Roma, this time as an assistant coach. On 16 October 2013, he was appointed by Shakhtar Donetsk as their new assistant manager joining his former Beşiktaş coach Mircea Lucescu.

On 12 December 2016, Zago was appointed as the new head coach of Porto Alegre side Internacional, replacing Lisca, who was sacked on 11 December, only hours after the team were relegated for the first time in Brazilian history. On May 28th, 2017, he was dismissed from Internacional.[9]

Career statistics

Club

[10]

Club performance League
Season Club League Apps Goals
Brazil League
1990São PauloSérie A211
1991211
1992222
Spain League
1992–93Albacete BalompiéLa Liga121
Brazil League
1993PalmeirasSérie A181
1994211
1995201
Japan League
1996Kashiwa ReysolJ1 League240
199700
Brazil League
1997Corinthians PaulistaSérie A122
Italy League
1997–98RomaSerie A120
1998–99280
1999–2000272
2000–01280
2001–02120
Turkey League
2002–03BeşiktaşSüper Lig312
2003–04250
Brazil League
2004SantosSérie A70
2005JuventudeSérie A301
2006221
2007SantosSérie A10
Country Brazil 19511
Spain 121
Japan 240
Italy 1072
Turkey 562
Total 39416

International

[10]

Brazil national team
YearAppsGoals
199120
199231
199360
199400
199500
199600
199700
199830
1999120
2000102
200110
Total373

Honours

Player

Club

Brazil São Paulo
Brazil Palmeiras
Brazil Corinthians
Italy Roma
Turkey Beşiktaş
Brazil Santos

International

Brazil Brazil

Manager

Brazil Internacional

References

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